Justice Department opens investigation into Yale for discrimination against Asian-Americans

The Departments of Justice and Education have opened an investigation into Yale University’s admission practices to determine if the school has been illegally discriminating against Asian-American applicants, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

The Justice Department opened a similar investigation into Harvard University for similar allegations last year, and a lawsuit has been filed against Harvard that goes to trial next month. The Justice Department supported the group in a court filing last month that read, in part, “Harvard’s race-based admissions process significantly disadvantages Asian-American applicants compared to applicants of other racial groups — including both white applicants and applicants from other racial minority groups.”

The investigations into Harvard and Yale are part of the Trump administration’s questioning of Obama-era guidelines that urge colleges to consider race as part of their admissions decisions.

The probe into Yale is based on a complaint filed in 2016 to the Justice and Education Departments by a group called the Asian American Coalition for Education. The filing named Yale, Brown, and Dartmouth as schools that illegally discriminate against Asian-American applicants based on their race.